15 Mar How to Be Rich Without Money | Inspirational Podcasts

Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast, brought to you in part by Book of Zen, makers of wearable inspiration for a better world. Today’s podcast has been edited and adapted from the books Pushing to the Front and The Iron Will by Orison Swett Marden…

We assume importance and become a power in the world, just as soon as it is found that we stand for something; that we are not for sale; that we will not lease our ideals for salary, for any amount of money or for any influence or position; that we will not lend our name to anything which we cannot endorse.

The trouble with so many people today is that they do not stand for anything outside their vocation. They may be well educated, well up in their specialties, may have a lot of expert knowledge, but they cannot be depended upon. There is some flaw in them which takes the edge off their virtue. They may be fairly honest, but you cannot bank on them.

If we need to look for a role model, let us turn to Teddy Roosevelt, who resolved early in life that, let come what may, whether he succeeded in what he undertook or failed, whether he made friends or enemies, he would not take chances with his good name—but would part with everything else first; that he would never gamble with his reputation; that he would keep his record clean. His first ambition was to stand for something, to live by his ideals. Before he was a politician or anything else, he was man of principle.

In Roosevelt’s early career, he had many opportunities to make a great deal of money by allying himself with crooked, sneaking, unscrupulous politicians. He had all sorts of opportunities for political graft. But crookedness never had any attraction for him. He refused to be a party to any political jobbery, any underhanded business. He preferred to lose any position he was seeking, to let somebody else have it, if his reputation be tarnished in the getting of it. He would not touch a dollar, place, or preferment unless it came to him clean, with no trace of jobbery on it. Corrupt politicians understood that it was no use to try to bribe him, or to influence him with promises of patronage, money, position, or power.

Roosevelt knew perfectly well that he would make many mistakes and many enemies, but he resolved to carry himself in such a way that even his enemies should at least respect him for his honesty of purpose, and for his straightforward, “square-deal” methods. He resolved to keep his record clean, his name white, at all costs. Everything else seemed unimportant by comparison.

In times like today, the world especially needs men and women who follow the lead of Teddy Roosevelt—citizens who hew close to the chalk-line of right and hold to the plumb line of truth; who do not pander to the elite; who make duty and truth their goal and go straight to their mark, turning neither to the right nor to the left, though riches and power tempt them.

We need new and fresh politicians who can purge politics and elevate once again the American ideals of truth, justice, and equality. New politicians who can show the public a new and a better way, while making both Democrats and Republicans ashamed of the old methods of graft and selfish greed—new politicians who show that unselfish service to their country is infinitely nobler than an ambition for self-aggrandizement.

Every man and woman ought to feel that there is something in them that bribery cannot touch, that influence cannot buy; something that is not for sale; something they would not sacrifice or tamper with for any price; something they would give their life for if necessary…..